Monthly Archives: August 2016

I do occasionally dabble with dough and on this occasion I thought I would pair sweet (but tart) and spicy flavours to take savory bread to the next level.

So what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think sweet…chocolate, that’s right.

We eat sweet Banana Bread for breakfast so why not Chocolate Bread? Chocolate alone was a bit mundane (bakeries do this nowadays) so I decided to add in some spices to give a few kicks to enhance the chocolates taste and the breads flavour. Thus my Spiced Ginger and Chocolate Bread was born.

Ingredients:

400g white bread flour

1 tbsn sugar

3 tsn ground ginger

½ tsn cinnamon

½ tsn ground cloves

Pinch chili Powder

1 tsn salt

½ tsn dried yeast

1 tbsn oil

160g dark (70% cocoa) chocolate chips

Method:

Mix together the flour, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, chili powder and salt in a bowl.

Place the yeast and 280ml of warm water in a bowl for 5 minutes or until it bubbles.

Stir the oil with the warm water then pour into the flour mix, stir.

Lightly flour a bench and knead the dough for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

Place the dough in a bowl and cover with cling wrap or a tea towel for 1-2 hours to prove (or until it doubled in size).

Add the chocolate chips and combine with the dough.

Lightly flour the bench again and knead the chocolate through the dough for 2 minutes.

Line a baking tray with baking paper and shape the dough into a bread shape and place on the tray.

Cover the bread again and leave to prove for another hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 220c degrees and place a small bowl of water in the bottom of the oven to stop the bread drying out.

Once proved cut slits in the top of the bread and place in the oven for 25 minutes or until the load sounds hollow.

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This recipe is a mix between a rice pudding and porridge that can be eaten as a satisfying breakfast or a quick and easy dessert.

I eat porridge for breakfast quite frequently and also enjoy a sweet coconut rice pudding for dessert.

To my porridge I like to experiment by replacing the oats with similar ingredients such as chia seeds, sago or quinoa flakes. To take my experimenting to the next level I decided to use semolina instead of the oats in porridge or the rice in rice pudding.

For the flavouring I opted for apple and cinnamon – an oldie but a goodie.

After playing around with the recipe I decided that caramelized apple slices on top of the pudding and beautiful vanilla & cinnamon cooked into the semolina delivered the best taste result.

To add more depth I topped the pudding with a burnt honey sauce and roasted nuts for the satisfying crunch texture.

If you’re after a delightful creamy and moreish breakfast option or a sweet way to finish a meal this recipe will have you covered.

Why this recipe makes the website – the result I ended up with blew my expectations. I could but the spoon down!

Ingredients:

Pudding:

600ml milk

60g sugar

1 tsn cinnamon

1 tsn vanilla essence

70g semolina

15g butter

Apples:

2 apples

40g butter

2 tbsn maple syrup

½ tsn cinnamon

Extra:

80g honey

40g water

80g mixed almond/hazelnut/brazil/macadamia nuts

Method:

Place the milk, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla into a saucepan on a high heat.

Whisk the mix until it boils.

Add in the semolina and butter, stir and reduce the heat down to simmer.

Whisk continuously until the milk is soaked up by the semolina and the mix thickens (about 15 minutes).

Remove off heat and divide the mix up between 4 bowls.

Peel the apples and thick julienne cut them.

Place the apple in a saucepan on high heat along with the 40g butter, maple syrup and ½ tsn cinnamon.

Stir with a spoon until the apples caramelize and are slightly soft.

Spoon the apples over the semolina pudding.

Place the honey a saucepan on high heat for 1 minute or until it darkens in colour.

Add the 40g water and stir until the mix slightly reduces and is syrupy in consistency.

Spoon the honey over the pudding.

Top with finely diced nuts and enjoy.

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This cake was inspired by wanting to hide green veggies in a sweet treat as well as use a grain to replace some of the flour quantity, thus the zucchini and polenta in this cake.

I thought orange and poppy seed would be a great addition and work well with texture of the cake. The polenta would soak up the juice and take on the taste of the orange as well as soak up the liquid of the zucchini, ensuring the cake will not be gooey or sticky.

The cake is subtle, lovely and delicate.

Ingredients:

Cake:

280 zucchini, grated

230g butter

300g sugar

4 eggs

40g poppy seeds

2 tbsn orange rind

2 tsn baking powder

270g flour

160g polenta

90ml orange juice

Icing:

300g cream cheese

100g icing sugar

4 tsn orange juice

1 tsn orange zest

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180c degrees and line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper.

Grate the zucchini until you have 280g in volume.

Give the zucchini a good squeeze to remove excess liquid, place in a bowl.

Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and using an electric beater whisk until the mix is creamy and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time beating in between each addition.

Add the poppy seeds and zest and beat until well combined.

Add the zucchini and beat until well combined.

Add in the powder, flour, polenta and orange juice and beat until just combine, but smooth.

Pour the mix into the cake tin and bake for 1 hour of until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Place the cake on a cooling rack to completely cool.

Meanwhile, make the icing by placing all the ingredients into a bowl and beat with the electric beaters until smooth and fluffy.

Once the cake is cooled cut in half horizontally.

Cover each layer with the icing on the top.

Place one cake layer on top of the other.

Enjoy.

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So earlier today, when I was feeling really creative I decided to do a whole range of different tiramisus with a variation of different flavor combinations. I figured if I could make a tiramisu that I really liked and found interesting it would have to be pretty amazing.

I made 10 different variations of flavour combo’s that I experimented with, while still sticking to the fundamentals of the dessert and not opting too far away.

Out of all the variations I created only one that was really a standout to the point that I kept going back for more.

I’m not saying this recipe is as good as my mother’s traditional tiramisu (which is the best dessert I have ever eaten in my life), however it is a scrumptious hazelnut alternative (instead of marsala as the base flavour).

For extra hazelnut flavour in this recipe I used liquor, spread and hazelnuts for that much needed texture crunch.

As usual, to make this more baking-friendly I have simplified the traditional method down to a few less steps without impacting the quality or taste.

Ingredients:

3 tbsn instant coffee

140ml hot water

220ml Frangelico (or any other hazelnut liquor)

3 eggs

120g sugar

600g mascarpone cheese

300g Nutella (or any other hazelnut spread)

200g savoiardi biscuits

100g hazelnuts

Method:

Combine the water and coffee granules and stir until dissolved.

Add 180ml of the Frangelico and stir into the coffee, leave aside for later.

Separate the eggs with the whites in a bowl and the yolks into another.

Add the sugar to the yolk bowl and using electric beaters whisk for 5 minutes or until light and creamy.

Add the remaining Frangelico and mascarpone cheese and beat until combine on low speed.

Clean beaters and beat the egg whites until peaks form.

Fold the egg whites and Nutella into the cheese mix until just combine.

Dip a biscuit into the coffee mix for a second on each side. Place biscuits in the base of a 20 x 20 cm baking tray.

Repeat dipping the biscuits and placing into the tray until you have used half the biscuits.

Chop up the hazelnuts into rough small pieces and sprinkle half on top of the cheese mix.

Top nuts with half the cheese mix and spread to allow for an even cover.

Repeat the biscuits being dipped and placed on top of the cheese mix until all the biscuits are used up.

Sprinkle remaining nuts.

Top the nut layer with the remaining cheese mix and spread to allow for an even cover.

Place in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.

Serve with grated chocolate, cocoa powder or a sprinkle of extra chopped hazelnuts and enjoy.

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